Process of forming secondary-battery electrodes.



(No Mpdal.)

PROCESS OF Patents d lune l0, I902. W. MORRISON.

FORMING SECONDARY BATTERY ELEUTROQES.

(Appliation filed June 18, 1900.]

00000000 0000000000000000 [I nnnnmnnnnn hfiflflfi 1-. an

eooooo oooooo 000000 0 000000 0 opoooo vvv 0000000 oaooaoooooodoooooo0 3000000000000000000 000000000 0000000 0 )OOO 00000000000000000'0000 0 0 00000000 00 00000009 00 l nnnnnnannnn flnnnnnnnnfi vuv uvv 0000000000000000000 mnnnnnon 4 n.

'I'NE noun-s mans no. vuomLfrka. wgsumumn, n c,

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM MORRISON, OF OHIOAGOJLLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO THE HELIOS- UPTON COMPANY, OF CHICAGO,

JERSEY.

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF NEW PROCESS OF FORMING SECONDARY-BATTERY ELECTRODES.

SPEGIFIGA'JI'ION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,915, dated June 10, 1902.' I

Application filed June 18, 1900.

in forming secondary-battery, plates and ap-] paratus therefor, and has for'its object to pre-.

serve the plates during the process of forming them by electrochemical action to prevent blowing or the forcible detachment of portions of the spongy or granular lead by the occluded gases generated during the operation of forming.

To this end the invention consists in certain novel features, which I will now proceed to describe and will then particularly point out in the claims. Y

In the accompanying drawings, Figure lis an elevation, partly broken away, of a structure employed in carrying out my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail sectional view of the same, partly broken away; and Fig. 3 is a View illustrating a further portion of the apparatus employed in carrying out my invention.

In the formation of secondary battery plates from lead plates provided with grooved surfaces and treated by passing an electric current through said plates while in a suitable acid-bath it has been found that under certain circumstances the gases evolved by the electrolytic action accumulate with such rapidity and in such volume underneath portions of the spongy or granular lead already formed upon the plate that their escape becomes somewhat in the nature of an eruptive discharge and portions of the spongy or gran ular lead are thus'blown from the plate, thereby reducing its efficiency. In carrying out my invention I propose to overcome this diffi-" Serlal No. 20,658- (No model.)

tached from the body of the plate the gases have a free escape through the apertures in the protecting-sheets.

In carrying out my invention I employ'in I conjunction with the grooved plate, which is indicated at 1,sheets or thin plates 2, preferably constructed of hard rubber and adapted to fit and be held against the grooved sides of the plate 1.- These sheets have openings 3 for the escape of the gases, and these openings are preferably arranged, as shown, so as to coincide with the grooves of the batteryplate. As a simple and eifective means for holding these protective sheets in position I may employ rubber bands 4, which are passed around the sheets and plate at the ends thereof. cell 5, containing an acid bath, and a current of electricity is passed through the same, thereby converting the surface portion of the plate from solid into granular or'spongy lead. During this conversion the plates prevent the blowing off of any portion of the lead, while at the same time theypermit free escape of the gases.

It is obvious that the details of construction of the protective sheets and the mode of holding them in positionimay be varied without departing from the principle of my inven tion. For instance, whileIhave referred to the protective sheetas being foraminous,

it will be understood that any material sufficiently porous to permit the escape of the 'gas and at the same time retainthe lead will comewithin the scope of my invention, and I wish to be understood as including such permeable material by the use of the term foraminous in the claims,

1. The improved process in th'e art of formin g battery-plates having multirecessed faces, which consists in covering the recessed faces with a sheet of thin substantially rigid foraminous material, securing the latter yieldingly against said face, then placing in a forming-bath and forming by the aid of an electric current and finally removing the foraminated sheet before use, substantially as described.

2; As an improvement in the art of form"- ing double-faced recessed secondary-battery process and. finally removing the inclosing' plates, first inclosing the plate between nonplates therefrom, substantially as describecl.

conduetin substantially ri icl foraminous sheets fill ll lly but yieldingly fn'essed against WILLIAM MORRISON 5 the active surfaces of the plate, and then sub- Witnesses:

jecting said battery-plate while inclosed be- FREDERICK C. GOODWIN,

tween said embracing-plates t0 the forming IRVINE MILLER. 

